


Bullies

by Firelit_dreams



Series: Kiss Series [4]
Category: Adam Lambert - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-14
Updated: 2011-05-14
Packaged: 2017-10-19 10:00:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/199623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firelit_dreams/pseuds/Firelit_dreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tommy gets bullied at school and comes to a realization. Written for i_glitterz on Live Journal</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bullies

Tommy moved as quickly as he could through the student parking lot and resisted the urge to look behind him. He’d heard them calling his name—and other things—as soon as he’d gotten out of his car. He just needed to get inside the school, they usually didn’t do anything more than name calling in the building, they weren’t dumb enough to risk being caught. Out here though, teachers really didn’t watch the student lot like they should, and his mother would kill him if he went home with another black eye.

He really wished Adam had ridden to school with him today. This wouldn’t be happening if he had, which was hilarious if he thought about it enough. Adam was the cause of the problem, ever since he’d come out Tommy had endured even more bullying than usual because he was Adam’s friend. Yet, everyone mostly stayed away from Adam. So, when Tommy was actually with Adam no one bothered him either. It was exactly like Tommy had told Adam all those years ago, he may not be picked on because he was bigger than most of their classmates, Tommy was small though so he was fair game.

“Hey fag,” a voice behind him said as a hand grabbed his shoulder, just as Tommy had reached the door. “Don’t be in such a hurry.”

Tommy stopped moving and sighed. So close. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before speaking slowly and hoping he sounded less frightened than he felt. “I just don’t want to be late for class.”

The hand left Tommy’s shoulder and he turned around slowly, he should at least know how many of them were there this time. It wasn’t as if not turning around would stop them anyway.

“Plenty of time before class,” the boy, James, Tommy thought his name was, said. “Where’s your boyfriend today?”

There were only two this time. The others hadn’t followed and were still back by the cars. “In rehearsal,” Tommy answered, as he started to back up, moving closer to the door. He’d learned a long time ago that denial didn’t do any good, he knew they meant Adam so just answer the question and hope to get away quickly.

“There you are,” Tommy heard Adam’s voice as the door swung open behind him. Adam continued talking as if he hadn’t noticed James and his friend. Which, for all Tommy knew he hadn’t, Adam could be frighteningly focused when he wanted to be. “I thought you were meeting me in the auditorium with breakfast?”

“Hey, Adam,” Tommy muttered, holding up the small bag containing the bagels he’d stopped for on his way to school. He wasn’t sure if he was relieved or embarrassed that Adam was once again rescuing him. “Was just on my way.”

Adam slung his arm over Tommy’s shoulder pulling him closer. “I will love you forever if one of those is cinnamon crunch.”

Tommy closed his eyes and slumped his shoulders slightly. Adam was only making things worse. Well, not at the moment because James and Charles were already backing away, heading back to their friends. But later, when Adam wasn’t around…

“Oh, hi,” Adam said, finally noticing the other two boys, and frowning. “Did I interrupt something?”

“Oh, umm, no,” Charles stuttered as they continued to move away. “We were just, huh, asking Tommy about a history assignment but we’re done.”

Adam shrugged and turned his attention back to Tommy, pulling him toward the door he was now holding open. “Mr. Cross has coffee in dressing rooms. He says early rehearsals require it no matter what the school thinks about students and coffee on campus. If we hurry there might still be some left.”

Adam had Tommy’s hand and was pulling him down the hall, chattering about rehearsal and problems he was having with one of the songs he needed to learn for the show. Tommy wished he could be as oblivious to the stares and giggling as they walked as Adam was. He wasn’t though, he saw and heard every one of them. It used to bother him, make him self-conscious.

 _It used to bother him._ Past tense. When had it stopped bothering him? At some point he’d stopped worrying about people thinking he was gay, or that Adam was his boyfriend, at least beyond the ‘I don’t want to get beat up’ concerns.

“Tommy, are you even listening to me?” Adam asked, when Tommy ran into him because he’d been so lost in his own thoughts he hadn’t realized Adam stopped moving.

“Of course I am,” Tommy said, offering him a smile.

“You know he always hangs on your every word,” Danielle teased, as she came out of the auditorium. Reaching for the bag in Tommy’s hand, ignoring his half-hearted scowl, she added, “Ooh, did you bring me one?”

“Don’t tease him, he was already catching enough shit from the jocks outside,” Adam said trying to grab the bag of bagels from Danielle. “Don’t you dare take the cinnamon crunch.”

So, Tommy thought, Adam had realized what was going on outside. He wondered how many other times Adam appeared out of nowhere when Tommy was being harassed and Adam acted like he had no idea what was going on, that he was actually aware of it.

“Oh relax,” Danielle sighed shoving the bag toward Adam. “I took the everything one.” Then to Tommy asked, “It was for me, right, Tommy?”

“Yeah, obviously,” Tommy said shrugging and wrinkling his nose in mock disgust at her bagel choice, having been pulled out of his thoughts at the sound of his name. “Who else would want that one?”

“Whatever,” she said kissing his cheek, “Thank you for the bagel and now I have to go find Kevin.”

They both watched her disappear around the corner toward the locker she shared with her boyfriend before going into the empty auditorium. Tommy chose seats near the back and slouched down in one of the empty seats in the back while Adam went in search of coffee.

“Sorry,” Adam said, sitting down next to Tommy and handing him a Styrofoam cup, a few minutes later. “Had to find the cups, someone actually put them away.”

Tommy took a sip of his coffee and sighed. He dug Adam’s bagel out of the bag and offered it to him before pulling out his own. Tommy once again, got lost in his thoughts and lost track of what Adam was saying to him.

First, his realization that he no longer found it weird for people to assume he was dating Adam. He used to. It didn’t like freak him out or anything but at one time he wanted to correct the idea when he could. Yeah, he’d been telling himself that he’d stopped denying it because no one believed him anyway. Was that really why? It wasn’t like not denying it helped anything, he was still going to get his ass kicked by whatever asshole had cornered him.

He could’ve also gone on dates, with girls; that probably would’ve done more to stop the bullying. He knew there were girls that would’ve been interested, Danielle was always telling him about girls that liked him. He’d just never been that interested. He’d been perfectly happy spending his weekends hanging out with Adam. Going to the movies, or the beach, or just hanging out at Adam’s house…

Okay, so maybe he could see why people thought he was Adam’s boyfriend. If he didn’t know better he’d probably think it too. It was silly though, they were friends, really good friends, but that was it. Adam had always been so sure about his sexuality, even before he’d come out, he’d never really doubted it. Tommy wasn’t as confident about it, he’d always thought he was straight, but then he supposed he wasn’t as sure of that as Adam was of being gay. He’d tried to ignore the occasional thoughts he’d had about kissing Adam. They didn’t mean anything, right? He’d had the same thoughts about Danielle occasionally too. Okay, so the Adam thoughts had been around longer, ever since that stupid night all those years ago when they’d been forced to play Spin the Bottle. Not that it mattered, Adam only saw him as a friend anyway, right?

“Oh my god,” Adam said loudly, waving a hand in front of Tommy’s face, making Tommy jump in surprise. “Have you even heard a word I’ve said?”

“Umm,” Tommy shrugged, as he felt the blush creeping up his cheeks at getting caught daydreaming. “Of course I have.”

“Sure,” Adam said, staring intently at Tommy, one eyebrow raised. “What was I talking about?”

“The play?” Tommy guessed, figuring odds were in his favor, Adam had just finished rehearsal.

“Nice try,” Adam said, frowning. “You’ve kinda been somewhere else since you got here. What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Tommy said, concentrating more than necessary on the remainder of his bagel and doing his best to ignore the worry in Adam’s voice. He did not want to discuss this with him. He wasn’t even sure what he thought yet.

“Bullshit. Tell me.”

“I really don’t want to talk about it,” Tommy insisted, still staring at his bagel.

Adam set his coffee on the floor and turned his full attention back to Tommy. “What did those guys say to you outside? Did they do something? I can—I don’t know, I can hit them or something.”

Tommy bit his lip, trying to hide his smile. “We’ve been friends since, like, seventh grade, and I’ve never seen you hit anyone, ever. Do you even know how to fight?”

“It can’t be that hard,” Adam offered. “I mean really, if those idiots can manage it how complicated can it be? And the point is, you’re upset about something they did.”

“No,” Tommy said, quietly. “I’m not. I’m not upset at all, I guess. Just thinking.”

“About what?” Adam pressured, then tried to lighten the mood, “What could you be thinking about that’s so fascinating it’s distracting you from my fabulous conversation?”

“Can’t we just drop it?” Tommy begged. He did not want to have this discussion with Adam. It was stupid and certainly not worth ruining a friendship. And what was he supposed to say anyway? ‘Sorry, I was distracted by thoughts of kissing you. Hope that’s not awkward at all.’

“No.” Adam folded his arms across his chest. “We tell each other everything. Why is this so different?”

Tommy sighed. Adam wasn’t going to let this go. He could lie, make up so crap about a cute girl or something, but with his luck Adam would have a drama friend that knew the girl and the girl liked him or something…

“Tommy the warning bell is going to ring any second and we aren’t leaving this spot until I know what—“

Tommy took a deep breath and let the words spill out as he leaned toward Adam. “Iwasthinkingaboutthis—” He pressed his lips against Adam’s and felt Adam’s body stiffen and start to pull away. Tommy stood up grabbing his bag and throwing it over his shoulder as the bell rang. “And that gave me my answer, didn’t it?” he muttered as he ran past Adam and out the door. He needed to be away from Adam as quickly as possible. He didn’t need to see the look of horror and disgust on his face. He’d felt it in every tense muscle in Adam’s body when he started to pull away from him.


End file.
